


Merry Christmas

by ChaoticEmoPigeon



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Christmas, Destiel Fluff, Fluff, Holiday, Ice Skating, M/M, Mid Season 8, Mild Spoilers, Romance, Set Up
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-20
Updated: 2020-07-20
Packaged: 2021-03-04 21:02:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,508
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25402786
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChaoticEmoPigeon/pseuds/ChaoticEmoPigeon
Summary: Sam and Poppy are getting a little sick of Cas and Dean's constant dancing around each other, so they use a little trickery to get them together right before christmas.
Relationships: Destiel
Comments: 1
Kudos: 12





	1. tree decorating

**Author's Note:**

> Yeah so this has a telikinetic teleporting OC in it who doesn't really need to be here but as a character i think she's fun so here we are.

“I never understood the purpose of Christmas” the angel said, poking at the tree “it isn’t even Jesus’s real birthday, and even if it was-”  
“Can it, Cas” came a voice from the other room “just enjoy it”  
After a series of confused grunting, Dean eventually emerged carrying a large box. At the same time, Sam and Poppy walked in, each holding 2 cups of cocoa.  
They offered the drink around, and Cas gladly took it.

Even though he was an angel, and technically didn’t need to eat, this was one of the few things he actually enjoyed consuming. He liked the feeling of warmth traveling down his throat. It reminded him of being safe, it reminded him of Dean.

Dean opened the box to reveal dozens of little sparkling ornaments. Which, from Castiel’s perspective, seemed both mesmerizing and useless.   
“So… you put the sparkling things… on the tree?” Cas asked, almost concerned “why?”  
“That’s the idea, yeah” Poppy replied from her cozy little spot on the couch. “It looks nice”  
“I don’t understand” Castiel took a seat on the chair in the corner   
“You don’t have to” the girl chuckled “try to relax”  
He tried, but it wasn’t exactly easy.   
“Is anyone going to help me out here or am I on my own? Because need I remind you, this was Poppy’s idea” Dean gestured at the partially decorated tree  
“I’m helping!” Poppy said, floating over a sparkly glass snowflake “see?”  
“Barely” Dean scoffed  
“Here, I’ll light a fire” Poppy zapped over to the fireplace.   
“NO” Sam and Dean said in unison  
“Too late!” Poppy joyfully exclaimed, fire already roaring behind her “It’s gorgeous”  
Everyone looked over at Cas, but he seemed a million miles away.

Castiel had never really had a family. There were his siblings, and father, but to call them dysfunctional would be the biggest understatement of the millennium. The closest thing he had ever had to a real, happy family would be these three, as chaotic and strange as they were.   
Cas didn’t know love either, not until he met Dean. This was their first family holiday since the two of them had gotten back from purgatory and they hadn’t really spoken.  
It wasn’t that they were awkward, or even mad, they just didn’t know how to bring it up.  
And that was okay, Cas told himself. Everything was going to be fine…

“Wings?” Poppy poked him “you okay?”  
“I’m fine” Castiel said, breaking out of his reverie  
“Alright then…” she pointed at the tree “want to help?”  
“Sure” he said matter-of-factly “what do I do?”  
“Nothing much” shrugged Sam “Just hang the ornament on the tree where you think it would look nice”   
It sounded simple enough.

Pretty soon all four of them were crowding each other, and in no time at all the tree was sparkling.

“Alright everybody,” Poppy held up a star in the shape of an anti-possession sigil “who wants to put the star on the tree?”  
Sam laughed “where the hell did you get that?”  
“Don’t ask” replied his sister with a wry smile, “I have my ways”  
“Let Cas do it,” said Dean “It’s probably his turn anyway”  
“Is anyone even keeping track anymore?” Sam interjected   
“I’d gladly do it” Castiel spoke up   
“Great!” Poppy handed him the star  
With a little help, the star ended up on the tree.  
“Alright, big reveal” said Dean, flipping the lights off.

They all oohed and ahhed as the tree lit up, and, feeling brave, Cas slipped his hand into Dean’s.

Dean wasn’t really ever one for physical affection.  
It just wasn’t his thing.

That didn’t mean he didn’t enjoy it though. And he would gladly hold Cas’s hand for as long as he could, not wanting to let him go.  
He didn’t let it show though, and after a second, Cas dropped his hand.

Sam and Poppy shared a knowing glance, and after a minute or two, proceeded to usher the two outside to 'watch the snow fall’

“wanna watch a movie?” Sam asked, digging through Bobby’s old DvDs  
“Sure” she shrugged “I don’t think they’re coming in anytime soon”- she jerked a thumb at the door “so why not?”  
“Hey… do you think we pushed them a little too much?”  
“Are you kidding me?” Poppy seemed personally offended “they needed to talk sometime, and you saw the same thing I did.”  
Sam nodded “you’re right, you’re right.”  
“Oh god” a look of realization glimmered across Poppy’s face “We don’t have to play bedroom roulette tonight, do we?”  
“Oh I hope not” said Sam, terrified “we only have two beds in this house”  
“Well, whose fault is that?” Poppy crossed her arms.  
“We never speak of this night again”   
“You could always sleep on the couch, dumbass”   
The sound of laughter echoed through the cabin.

Outside it was quiet.  
Dean could see his breath in the air, but for some reason, he didn’t really feel cold.   
Castiel, on the other hand, was very cold.  
Logically, he should have been able to regulate his body temperature so he wouldn’t be so cold, but something wasn’t letting him.  
Dean could see something was off  
“You cold?”  
“No…” Cas said, looking away “i’m perfectly fine”  
“No you’re not” Dean sighed “I can tell”  
He scooched over and slid off his jacket  
“Here” he said, wrapping it around the angel “now talk to me.”  
Instead of talking, Castiel grabbed Dean’s face and pulled him in close, wrapping his arms around him and pressing his lips to Dean’s.  
“Whoa” Dean said when they broke free “Cas… I-”  
“I apologize” Cas moved to get up “I wasn’t thinking”  
Dean clutched his wrist, pulling him back down  
“Like hell you weren’t” Dean tucked a stray piece of hair behind Cas’s ear “I just wasn’t ready”  
He moved even closer and pulled Cas in, pausing a moment before kissing him, long and hard.

“Psst, Sam” Poppy was by the window again. “Come look”  
“Can’t you let me sleep?” Sam groaned from his place on the couch   
“Sa-am”  
“Fine”  
Sam got up and trudged towards the window  
“Oh”  
“Yeah, oh” Poppy elbowed him “would you look at that?”  
“Terrible” Sam cracked a smile “just awful”  
“The worst”  
“Merry Christmas, Sam”  
“Merry Christmas”


	2. Surprise!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> More sneakiness from poppy >:)

(this takes place the day after the events of the first one, on Christmas Eve)

It was 8:42 exactly when Poppy got out of bed.  
She and Sam rock-paper-scissored for the bedroom, but Poppy made the argument that it was technically her house, because she lived there while he was retired, and won.  
She walked into the hallway, half expecting Dean to still be awake.  
Instead, she found Castiel, sitting at the kitchen table.  
“Morning” she said, pulling up a chair.  
“Good morning” Cas replied, staring off into space  
“Where’s Dean?” Poppy zapped up a cup of coffee “still asleep?”  
The angel nodded  
“Okay then.” Poppy picked up the three year old newspaper on the table “you’re still wearing his jacket, by the way”  
Cas looked down in surprise, as if he had forgotten.  
Poppy put down the cup of coffee and sighed  
“Alright, what’s wrong”  
“Nothing’s wrong” said Castiel apprehensively “everything’s fine”  
Poppy raised an eyebrow  
“I don’t think you’d be acting like this if everything was fine, talk.”  
It took a minute, but finally he replied  
“Do you think he really likes me?”  
“Duh.” Poppy rolled her eyes “I mean, first off, you’re wearing his jacket. He doesn’t even let me do that. Second off, DUDE. He kissed you. Twice. I think that counts for something.”  
“Perhaps” Cas began to stare into space again.

Poppy got up from the table and moseyed over towards the couch, where Sam was passed out.  
“Sammy” she grabbed his arm “wake up”  
“What?” he groaned, rolling over “what do you want?”  
“Go get dressed, I have an idea”

It took an hour, but eventually everyone was dressed and ready (Castiel in one of Dean’s spare flannels because he couldn’t find his trench coat, which Poppy had hidden.)  
Nobody had any clue where they were going, but apparently it was important enough that Poppy insisted they take her car.  
Despite a fair amount of protesting, Sam was given the passenger seat and Dean and Cas took the back.  
Turning on the local christmas station, Poppy started humming along.  
Sam turned his head around to Dean and Cas in the backseat.  
Dean had his arm around the angel’s shoulders, and Cas was blushing bright red.  
Sam chuckled, but turned around again before either of them noticed.  
“Hey, kid, where are we going?” Dean asked, readjusting himself in his seat  
The sweater-clad driver ignored him

“Poppy?”  
She continued to ignore him  
“I believe it is supposed to be a surprise, Dean” Castiel piped up  
“I…” Dean looked at the innocent face of his angel “good to know”  
Poppy snorted from the front seat.

It took another ten minutes to get there.  
“Ta-da!” Poppy exclaimed as they got out of the car “we’re going ice skating!”  
“Ice skating?” Cas looked confused  
“It’s basically strapping blades to your feet and then trying to run” said Sam, tiredly  
“Not helping” Poppy shot him a look. “It’s fun, just trust me”  
“No offense Poppy,…” Dean started  
“Don’t”

They got skates and set out on the rink.  
Dean was a little wobbly at first, but got the hang of it pretty quickly  
“It’s like riding a bike” he said proudly  
“It is not at all like that” Sam said, clutching the side of the wall.  
Castiel was still figuring out how to lace up his skates.

“Need help?” Poppy slid on the bench next to Cas  
“No, thank you.” he stared intently at the laces,  
“I’m going to do it anyway” she said, waving a hand. The skates laced up immediately.  
“So i’m assuming you’ve never been skating before”  
Cas shook his head  
“Well no worries! I can…” she glanced over at her oldest brother, who was pretending to not be looking at them “get Dean to help you”  
As if he had been summoned, Dean stepped out of the rink and offered a hand to Castiel, who gladly took it.

Poppy smiled at them as they stumbled their way onto the ice.  
Her smile quickly turned into a look of dread as Sam zoomed past them  
“I DON’T KNOW HOW TO STOP THESE THINGS” 

“Okay, so hold on to the wa-- Watch out!” Dean pulled Cas to him quickly as Sam sped by, still not in control of his own legs.  
They stood there for a second, Dean holding Cas  
“You ready?” He looked down  
The angel nodded “How am I supposed to move?”  
“Here” Dean grabbed his arm “move your feet like this”  
He demonstrated

It took some time, but pretty soon, the two of them were skating hand in hand through the rink.

Cas liked this.  
It felt freeing, a little like flying. Gliding around on the ice next to the one person he really loved.  
He leaned over and kissed Dean on the cheek  
“What was that for?” Dean asked, surprised  
Cas smiled “no reason”  
Dean smiled back.

Dean fell twice that day.  
Once because Poppy wasn’t looking, and skated directly into him, and once for the angel by his side.

After an hour or two more they got back in the car.  
“We’ve got one more stop to go” Poppy said with a mischievous grin  
“Where is it?” Dean asked  
“I think it’s a surprise again” Cas remarked  
Sam laughed.

It took a little longer to get there than expected, but pretty soon the quartet found themselves at the top of a hill, not too steep, but steep enough.  
Poppy and Sam hauled out two sleds from the trunk of the mustang.  
“Sledding? Seriously?” Dean shook his head  
“What’s the matter Dean?” Poppy teased “scared?”  
“No-not scared” Dean turned away “just… hesitant.”  
“Are we just going to stand around?” Sam lifted a sled “I want to go”  
“C’mon Dean” Poppy said “it’ll be great”  
Cas grabbed Dean’s hand “please?”

Dean’s heart melted a little.  
His siblings he could say no to easy peasy… but Cas?  
He relented “alright, for you”  
Sam made a barfing movement and Poppy hit him.

Dean and Castiel clambered into the sled  
“Ready?” Sam asked  
The pair nodded  
“Go!” Poppy exclaimed, pushing them down the hill.

They went down quite elegantly at first, but when they got closer to the bottom of the hill the sled tipped over and the two were propelled into a mound of snow.  
It took a second, but they popped up, laughing.  
The family spent the rest of the afternoon sledding, and gradually they were able to get to the bottom of the hill without being launched into snow.

It started to get dark around 4:30, so they piled in the car and drove home.

Quiet, vaguely christmassy music played from the radio as they sat in silence, taking in the joy of the day.  
Dean had his arm around Castiel again.  
Cas liked this.  
He felt safe here, he felt like this was the right place to be.  
He shut his eyes and snuggled in closer.


	3. Gifts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nobody got anybody else anything because these people are bad at planning in advance

They arrived home at about 5 o’clock.

The group changed into some comfortable pajamas and lit another fire (or maybe the first one didn’t ever go out-it wasn’t quite clear)  
“Alrighty” Poppy said “who volunteers to make dinner?”  
Dean was sitting on the couch, arm around his angel “why can’t you just zap something up?”  
She rolled her eyes “Oh, I don’t know, because that takes energy? Energy I don’t exactly have an abundance of, since Balthazar, you know, DIED”  
Castiel was starting to get uncomfortable  
“I’ll help” he offered  
Poppy’s face lit up “really? great!”  
Dean looked surprised “okay then”

Poppy and Cas started to make dinner (nothing fancy, just chili) and after about ten minutes Poppy started to feel like they were being watched.  
She turned around slyly to see Dean in the doorway   
Cas hadn’t noticed, he was a little preoccupied with the different kinds of beans.  
Poppy zapped over behind Dean and tapped him on the shoulder  
“Hey you” she said “creep”  
“Jesus christ Pop” Dean jumped “don’t sneak up on me like that!”  
“Don’t watch us cook” she laughed “what do you want?”  
Dean blushed a little bit “nothing”  
Poppy raised an eyebrow “nothing, huh.”  
“Yep, nothing” Dean tried to change the subject “how about those mets?”  
“I like the red sox” Poppy crossed her arms “now, what are you doing?”  
“Just…” Dean relented “can I help?”  
“Sure” Poppy linked arms with him “why are you guys so weird about everything? Actually, don’t answer that, I don’t want to hear it”

The two of them washed their hands and got Dean an apron  
(the apron wasn’t necessary, but Castiel thought Dean looked cute in it)

They got to work, and everything was going great until there was a sound of crashing from behind them  
“Sam?” Poppy shouted towards the living room “You okay?”  
“EVERYTHING’S FINE” Sam replied, panicked   
Poppy sighed “you guys keep cooking, the recipe is right there, don’t burn anything”  
She zapped off into the other room.

“What is a teaspoon?” Cas asked after a second   
“It’s a measurement tool” Dean said “there’s one somewhere”  
He rummaged around in a drawer for a moment  
“Ta-da!” Dean grinned and presented it to Cas  
"That's pretty small" Cas studied the spoon "is it made to hold tea in?"  
Dean shrugged "I have no clue."   
They continued on making chili.

20 minutes later Poppy returned.  
"Everything okay in there?" Dean asked, stirring a bowl of something   
"Yep, or it is now. Sam's wrist is possibly sprained but everything should be fine" she waved a hand "no worries. How have you two been doing?"  
"Almost done!" Said Cas excitedly.

Castiel didn't eat.  
Mostly because he didn't have to, but he did love to cook. He liked the look on his friend's faces when they ate something he had made. It was a human pleasure of his.

Dean liked to eat.  
There was no particular reason for it, it was just one of his things. He especially liked to eat things that Cas had made for him.

Poppy thought all of this was weird.  
Cute, yes, but weird.   
Still, she liked seeing her brother happy.

Sam's arm really, really hurt.  
And unfortunately the menorah was slightly broken.  
Oops.

Sam gathered them all for family dinner, and after a fair amount of bickering, they decided to watch the grinch.

“I don’t understand” Cas said, midway through the movie “why does the grinch want to take the tree?”   
“Because people are making too much noise” Sam replied, seemingly unsure   
“It doesn’t make a ton of sense” Poppy admitted “but I like the movie and it’s too late to stop.”  
Cas was still confused.

Dean kinda liked it when Castiel was confused.  
He was always the dumb one compared to his family, and even though Cas was still loads smarter than he was, filling him in on all the silly human stuff was one of Dean’s favorite things.

He pulled the angel closer to him and kissed the top of his head.  
These past two days had been some of the best of his life. He had a nice family and someone who loved him. Dean knew that pretty soon he’d have to go back to the regular old grind of saving people and hunting things, but for now he could sit back, relax and be happy for once.  
The movie ended fairly quickly and after a debate about the feasibility of the grinch’s heart growing 3 sizes, the group decided to turn in for the night.  
Well, Poppy forced them to, but yeah.

Sometime in the middle of the night Poppy was awoken by her friendly neighborhood angel standing at the side of her bed.  
“You’re lucky I can sense you” she said, rolling over “what do you want?”  
“I need your help” Cas sat down at the end of the bed   
Poppy sat up “at 3 AM? It better be important.”  
“It is…” he trailed off   
“Are you going to tell me?” Poppy slipped out of bed “or are you just gonna sit there looking pretty”  
“I need a christmas gift for Dean” Castiel turned to her “can you help?”  
Poppy laughed “that’s it? Christ, Wings, I thought you were dying! Of course I can help”  
The pair zapped off into the living room and got to work

“So,” Poppy took a seat at the kitchen table “it being christmas eve, and the middle of the night, our options are limited”  
Cas’s face fell  
“But!” she said “this just makes it more fun!”  
“How so?” Cas asked  
“Well, we can make it ourselves.” she declared “I have an idea”

“Done.” Poppy said, handing the gift to Cas “all you’ve gotta do is wrap it”  
“Thank you” the angel replied, taking it.  
“No problem” Poppy yawned “i should go back to bed”  
She got up and stumbled back to her room.

The morning came with a bang.  
Well, more accurately, annoyed groaning from Sam and Dean as Poppy and Cas dragged them out of bed.  
“Who wants to go first?” Poppy said, gesturing to the presents on everyone’s laps  
“How are you so peppy?” Dean stretched his arms “It’s unsettling”  
“Coffee!” Poppy exclaimed, a scary look in her eye  
“O-kay” Sam said, scooching away “good to know…”  
“Dean should go first” Cas unsubtly winked at Poppy  
“Good idea” she winked back  
“What just happened?” Dean looked at Sam, but he seemed equally confused.  
Cas handed Dean his gift, and he hesitantly unwrapped it, keeping a wary eye on Poppy, who was giggling like a maniac.   
He revealed it and his heart stopped for a minute  
“Do you like it?” Cas asked, putting a hand on Dean’s  
“Ye-Yeah” Dean cleared his throat “I-I love it, thank you”  
He looked down at the cassette, the words ‘Dean’s mix <3’ printed across the top.  
“Told you he’d like it” Poppy poked Cas  
She turned to Sam   
“Looks like only one of us is boyfriend-less”  
Sam’s eyes got wide as he backed away slowly from his sister.  
While Poppy was preoccupied, Dean and Cas stepped outside  
“Seriously, thank you” Dean said, cupping his angel’s face in his hand “this is great”  
He pulled Cas in for a kiss.  
Letting go, Dean pulled out a messily wrapped gift.  
“Poppy helped me throw this together late last night” he said apologetically “here”  
Castiel unwrapped it to find a cassette, similar to the one he had made.  
“It’s not much, but-” Dean was cut off  
“It’s perfect” Cas smiled.

“You are one sneaky kid” Sam remarked, chewing a bit of candy cane  
“I know” Poppy grinned “It’s my specialty.”  
“You’ve never tried that on me… have you?”  
“A couple times” she admitted “it’s not like you’re particularly easy to set up. Those two though? They were made for each other”  
“Yeah they are” Sam chuckled “they really are”

The end


End file.
